Indie Bookstores 'Made Me a Reader & Then a Writer'

"I always say that indie bookstores made me a reader and then a writer. I have been a huge, huge fan of indies as a consumer since I was young enough to read. I grew up in San Francisco in the Richmond District, so Green Apple Books was a place that we went all the time, as well as Books Inc. and the bookstore in the Haight, the Booksmith--really, there are so many amazing indies in San Francisco. No matter what neighborhood you're in, there's an incredible indie and I've probably shopped there.

"I think that, like with being a writer, you don't necessarily go into bookselling because you want to get rich on it, and so it really is such a labor of love and passion. I love just being able to enter, browse the aisles, and find something that I never thought I would. And I always had the dream of seeing a book of mine in one of those places, so to have this particular honor and to know that it comes from indie booksellers is enormous."